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Former Will County sheriff’s deputy killed in motorcycle crash

Fatal crash occurred in southern township of Will County

A former Will County Sheriff’s deputy was killed in a motorcycle crash in Wilton Township, police said.

About 2:20 p.m. Sunday, sheriff’s deputies responded to the intersection of South Tulley and West County Line road in Wilton Township for a motorcycle crash with injuries, sheriff spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer said.

The township is in the southern part of Will County.

A crew with the Manteno Fire Department responded to the scene and discovered a man identified as Robert “Dutch” Schurman, 67, of New Lenox was dead, Hoffmeyer said.

Initial reports of the crash indicate that Schurman was driving a 2004 Harley-Davidson Electra south on Tulley Road when he “failed to negotiate the leftward curve in the roadway and drove off the road to the south,” Hoffmeyer said.

“Friends who were riding behind Schurman at the time of the accident stated that the road had a large amount of dust in the air, prior to the crash, making it difficult to see the roadway in front of them,” Hoffmeyer said.

Those friends attempted to save Schurman until first responders arrived, Hoffmeyer said.

Schurman was pronounced deceased shortly after 6 p.m., according to a news release from the Will County Coroner’s Office.

The sheriff’s traffic investigation unit was investigating the incident, Hoffmeyer said.

She said Schurman was a 29-year veteran of the sheriff’s office and retired as a lieutenant in 2008.

“Sheriff Mike Kelley and the Will County Sheriff’s Office extend our sympathies to his family and friends,” Hoffmeyer said.

Felix Sarver

Felix Sarver

Felix Sarver covers crime and courts for The Herald-News